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A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF DEEKSHA’S EFFECTS ON ANXIETY AND BODY AWARENESS
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology Specialty in Somatic Psychology
by Karen Michelle Roller Santa Barbara Graduate Institute March 2012
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF DEEKSHA’S EFFECTS ON ANXIETY AND BODY-AWARENESS by Karen Michelle Roller is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology (Specialty in Somatic Psychology). Approved by:
______________________________________ Edmund Knighton, PhD, Chairperson
__________________________ Date
______________________________________ Marlon Sukal, PhD, Committee Member
__________________________ Date
______________________________________ ___________________________ Andrew Newberg, MD, Committee Member
Date
______________________________________ ____________________________ Meg Sandow, PsyD, External Examiner
Date
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©2012 by Karen Michelle Roller All rights reserved.
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ABSTRACT A Quantitative Study of Deeksha’s Effects on Anxiety and Body Awareness Karen Michelle Roller 2012 Deeksha is a South Asian energy medicine that has rapidly become a global phenomenon due to popular belief and anecdotal evidence that it helps relieve humans of suffering; to date, no published peer-reviewed studies exist to address this claim. Given that psychotherapy often requires months to years of consistent intervention to relieve clients of emotional suffering, therapeutic interventions that may expedite the emotional healing process warrant scientific investigation. Many underprivileged psychotherapy clients receive mental health services through publicly funded agencies or international relief organizations that are limited to utilizing evidence-based practices. In order for alternative interventions like Deeksha to become available to underprivileged psychotherapy clients in the West, sufficient evidence for their benefits must be demonstrated. The current quantitative study used the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (Reynolds, 1999) to measure subjects’ responses to four weekly exposures to Deeksha as compared to those in a placebo control group, and correlated subjects’ outcomes on the Body Intelligence Scale (Anderson, 2005). EEG data assessed whether subjects’ brains trended toward increased well-being. Thirty sub-clinical, self-referring, randomly assigned adult subjects, aged 22-72 and living in Santa Cruz County, participated. Hypothesis 1 was: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant decline in state
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anxiety relative to those in the control group. Hypothesis 2 was: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant increase in body awareness relative to those in the control group. Hypothesis 3 was: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant improvement in neurophysiological functioning relative to those in the control group. This study systematically built on the anecdotal evidence suggesting that Deeksha serves to increase a sense of well-being in many recipients by reducing anxiety and increasing body awareness.
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Acknowledgments Even if we imagine ourselves circumnavigating solo, the entire Universe must conspire to get us safely home. To the original crew who weighed anchor and gave a good shove off the dock: Barnaby Barratt, Rae Johnson, and Jill Kern; your open-mindedness and discernment made sure I had all (and only) the charts I needed aboard. Angelica Villasenor, Maria Heredia, Reyna Juarez, and Thelma Jung; your glorious linguistic talents assured we were welcomed by every port authority; millones de besos. James Oleson, your ongoing lessons in piracy assured I wielded my scabbard efficiently. As smooth sailing passed, Edmund Knighton jack-lined me to the helm; thank you for making sure I did not get tossed overboard. When squalls battered the hull, Andrew Newberg rappelled in from LifeFlight, with all the medical gear we could ever need; I therefore owe the world selfless service for the rest of my days, and that is how long I will be indebted to you. Langdon Roberts and Daz Haela created the most welcome port in a storm. Pernilla Lillarose and Cai Baker: you two calmed Poseidon with your intelligent grace and generous hearts, and kept this boat afloat through sheer force of consistent love. Sandeep Chaudhari and Leslie Sherlin: your speedy navigational skills kept us off the rocks as we tacked toward the swiftly-approaching harbor. Meg Sandow, you are a lighthouse, poet, and saint. Ian MacAllister: you haul rode and moor like nobody’s business. The booty collected on
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this little jaunt is dedicated to my Mom and Dad, in gratitude for the lifelong gift of a secure base. Land ho! TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract………………………………………………………………………..….…..1 Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………….…..3 Table of Contents…………………………………………………..............................4 Table……….…………………………………………………………………….…...7 Chapter 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………....9 Situating the Reader……………………………………………………….….9 Trauma…………………………………………………………….….9 Trauma Interventions………………………………………………..12 Deeksha……………………………………………………………………...12 Rationale for the Study……………………………………………………...14 Summary of Chapters……………………………………………………….17 Chapter 2. Review of the Literature and Hypotheses…………………………….…19 Energy Psychology and Somatic Psychology Comparisons………………..20 Energy Psychology……………………………………………….…20 Somatic Psychology………………………………………………...22 Energy Medicine……………………………………………………………24 Reiki…………………………………………………………………24
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Therapeutic Touch…………………………………………………..25 Deeksha………………………………………………………….….26 Affect Regulation …………………..……………………………………….29 Anxiety Studies…….…………………………………………………….….32 Body Awareness……………………...……………………………………..33 Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………....36 Research Questions and Hypotheses……………………………..…36 Definitions of Terms………………………………………………..37 Anxiety………………………………………………….…..37 Body Awareness…………………………………………….38 Chapter 3. Research Methods………………………………………………………40 Subjects and Sampling……………………………………………………...42 Ethical Protection of Subjects……………………………………....43 Role of Researcher………………………………………………….44 Data Collection…………..............................................................................45 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………….47 Electroencephalograms…………………………………………….48 Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire…………………………..50 Body Intelligence Scale…………………………………………….52 Chapter 4. Results…………………………………………………………………...55 Hypothesis 1………………………………………………………………...55
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Hypothesis 2…………………………………………………………….…..56 Hypothesis 3………………………………………………………………...57 Chapter 5. Discussion……………………………………………………………….59 Summary and Interpretation…………………………………………….…..68 Consideration of the Findings in Light of Current Research…………….….69 Limitations……………………………………….………………………….69 Alternate Hypotheses………………………………………………….….…72 Findings that Fail to Support the Hypotheses………………………….……75 Potential Implications for Somatic Psychology Theory and Practice………76 Recommendations for Future Research……………………………………..77 Appendix A. EEG Tables…………………………………………………………...82 Appendix B. Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire Tables and Figures.……...128 Appendix C. Body Intelligence Scale Tables and Figures……………………….. 185 Appendix D. Informed Consent (English and Spanish)…………………………...188 Appendix E. MAQ (Spanish translation)………………………………………….192 Appendix F. BIS (English and Spanish versions)…………………………………195 References………………………………………………………………………….200
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Table Table 1. Subject Self-Identity………………………………………………...43
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As a bilingual mental health worker serving a predominantly migrant population, this writer was concerned with the length of time traditional talk and play therapies require in order to facilitate an increased sense of well-being in traumatized, underprivileged, deserving people. She was also concerned with the chronically low expectations that traumatized clients hold for how they are entitled to feel in life. She turned to Somatic Psychology in order to learn more fruitful and lasting interventions for clients who have been suffering from complex trauma,1 while also supporting the practitioner’s well-being from vicarious trauma2 (Rothschild, 2006). In that process, she began receiving the energy medicine known as Deeksha, which inexplicably quieted negative self-talk and seemed to help her feel more safe, hopeful, joyful, and peaceful while facing life’s challenges. One of the purported benefits of receiving Deeksha is that it effortlessly helps one to release 1
Complex trauma: occurs repeatedly and escalates over its duration. It is exemplified by domestic violence and child abuse and in other situations by war, prisoner of war or refugee status, and human trafficking. Complex trauma also refers to situations such as acute/chronic illness that requires intensive medical intervention or a single traumatic event that is calamitous. Complex trauma generates complex reactions, in addition to those currently included in the DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (Courtois, 2004, p. 412).
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Vicarious trauma: “is the process of change that happens because [one cares] about other people who have been hurt, and feels[s] committed or responsible to help them. Over time this process can lead to changes in [one’s] psychological, physical and spiritual well-being” (http://www.headington-institute.org).
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from suffering3 (Ardaugh, 2007); it is this claim that she sought to investigate empirically. Situating the Reader Trauma. Trauma is the body’s natural response to an overwhelming situation (Levine, 1997). Due to the context in which it takes place, developmental trauma, such as attachment disruptions and emotional neglect or abuse, may result in longer lasting symptoms than single-incident shock trauma; both types of trauma, when left unresolved, may convert into an ongoing struggle with anxiety and dissociation from the body. Sub-clinical developmental trauma is understood by contemporary attachment theorists to be relatively common in the general population, and relatively responsive to clinical interventions designed for its amelioration (Bowlby, 1982; Cassidy & Shaver, 1999; Colin, 1996; Glaser & Prior, 2006; Green, 2003; Grossman, Grossman & Waters, 2005). This study was designed to address subclinical developmental trauma, which tends to persist as symptoms of free-floating anxiety and decreased body awareness. (Amini, Lannon & Lewis, 2000; Johnson, 1995; Leitch, 2007; Levine, 1997; Perry, 1998; Rothschild, 2000; Schore, 1994, 2003; Sieck, 2007; Siegel & Solomon, 2003). Attachment theory, a foundation of Somatic Psychology and a component of neuroanthropology4, places the attachment outcomes of a caregiver’s effectiveness in
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“Suffering” is defined as, “The bearing of pain, inconvenience, or loss; pain endured; distress, loss, or injury incurred; as, sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs”, and “a state of acute pain; misery resulting from affliction; feelings of mental or physical pain” (http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/suffering).
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bonding to her dependent child along a spectrum from insecurely-attached, to securely-attached (e.g., Goldberg, Kerr, Main & Muir, 2010). These authors noted that “individuals disorganized with the primary caregiver in infancy may be more vulnerable than others to anxiety, phobia and dissociative experiences” (p. 407). Individuals who experienced relatively few attachment disruptions in their early lives are theoretically more protected from developing later trait anxiety and dissociative tendencies than those who experienced ongoing developmental or emotional attunement gaps, but even individuals who would be categorized as securelyattached could experience unwanted anxiety given the right circumstances (Goldberg et al.). A full analysis of the attachment literature is beyond the scope of this study, but an overview of its core theory is provided here to give a context for how this researcher sought to rule out from participation those volunteers who might have clinically significant difficulties. In the pre-screening interview, she queried potential participants regarding their motivation for volunteering and current stressors, as well as general indices for self-care capacity that would reflect subclinical levels of psychological need (e.g., living independently, age-appropriate functioning in the world, absence of substance abuse, supportive social network,
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Neuroanthropology “is conceived of as being complementary to and mutually informative with social and cultural neuroscience…. The field is described as a humanistic science, that is, a field of enquiry founded on the perceived epistemological and methodological interdependence of science and the humanities…[in] the study of the culture-brain nexus” (Duque, Egan, Lewis & Turner, 2009).
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curiosity regarding improving well-being without overwhelming need for therapeutic tending). Only subjects who were managing daily stressors without clinically significant symptoms were included in this experiment. This author prescreened approximately 50 potential participants over the course of subject recruitment for this study. Thirty of the potential participants met the baseline criteria for managing their daily stress sufficiently well to participate. Clinically significant unresolved trauma’s breadth of etiology and symptom manifestation makes it difficult to operationalize, and inappropriate to investigate in a first-order experimental design with a novel intervention. This study is meant to serve as a building block for future studies looking at a broader scope of trauma’s impact and its therapeutic resolution. Current trauma literature underscores the importance of physically discharging somatic memories associated with overwhelm in order to resolve painful experiences (Heller & Heller, 2004; Leitch, 2007; Levine, 1997; Minton, 2006; Rothschild, 2000; Scaer, 2001; Siegel & Solomon, 2003). Somatic Psychology interventions facilitate this discharge through movement, appropriate use of touch, a focus on sensations, and use of embodied language (e.g., talking through pain as opposed to talking about pain), within the context of a safe and healing relationship (Cornell, 1996; Fosha, 2000; Levine, 1997; Minton, 2006; Rothschild, 2000).
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Traumatologists assert that the completion of thwarted “survival energy” 5 comes when unresolved emotional experiences that have been stored in the body have been digested and released (Heller & Heller, 2004; Levine, 1997; Minton, 2006; Porges, 1994; Rothschild, 2000; Scaer, 2001) and that these changes have demonstrable neurological effects on the human triune brain (Amini, Lannon & Lewis, 2000; Perry, 1998; Siegel & Solomon, 2003). Trauma interventions. Although Somatic Experiencing is a widely used practice for discharging trauma and resolving associated psychic pain (Heller & Heller, 2004; Leitch, 2007; Scaer, 2001), the three-year training period for practitioners limits its accessibility to clinicians, and their disadvantaged clients. A review of current literature indicated that the effectiveness of Somatic Experiencing has not yet been systematically tested for decreasing anxiety and increasing body awareness. Likewise, practicing other forms of trauma-oriented somatic psychotherapy (e.g., Bioenergetics, Body-Mind Psychotherapy, Bodynamics, EMDR, Psychomotor Therapy) and body work (e.g., Atlas Repositioning, Bowen Therapy, Chiropractic, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Feldenkrais, massage, Myofascial Release, Rolfing) requires extensive training and financial resources, also rendering
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Heller & Heller (2004) define “survival energy” as “intense energies mobilized to meet threat,” and that it “mobilizes for fight or flight, but [in traumatizing situations it] literally has no place to go and ends up being converted into symptoms,” for example, anxiety and dissociation (p. 43).
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them unavailable to disadvantaged potential practitioners and their clients. To become a Level I Deeksha-giver, by contrast, now requires only a weekend training.6
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The Deeksha initiation process continues to become more streamlined; this author’s cohort of August 2007 participated in a 21-day process in India, although at the time of this writing, wouldbe practitioners need only attend a local weekend retreat led by a Deeksha Trainer, with a donation to contribute to site rental. Furthermore, the university that facilitates initiations maintains an Indigenous Fund offering full scholarships for deserving people from disenfranchised lands.
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Deeksha. Deeksha-givers are taught somatic principles to help recipients discharge trauma from the past that tends to repeat in current relationships, perpetuating suffering (Ardaugh, 2007). However, it is the energy medicine itself that is reputed to shift the recipient’s perception of overwhelming experiences. It is theorized in the Deeksha community that when painful emotions and associated sensations can be tolerated, experienced directly, and released from the body, the individual’s life force may flow with more freedom from psychological distortions (Ardaugh, 2007). One core teaching of the Deeksha initiation process is that, as a species that has been traumatizing itself for millennia, human beings are now neurologically wired to assume the need to defend themselves. As social mammals dependent on each other to survive, we are thought to have brains that automatically resonate with those around us, constantly assessing safety, belonging, and affiliation, among other needs. The Deeksha community believes that the human mind/ego, misperceiving its existence as an entity separate from the universal whole, identifies with and develops around painful experiences in an effort to survive. These stored survival experiences are considered to hold the body and brain in restrictive patterns based on the past (for instance, over-activating the reptilian and mammalian levels of the human triune brain), which limits the life force from moving into higher cortical architecture of the brain. The subjective result, according to the Deeksha community, is that one tends to subconsciously re-create
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unwanted patterns in current interactions and may be less able to access higher executive functioning when under duress. Neurologically, the result is claimed to be over-activity in the right parietal lobe, and under-activity in the left pre-frontal cortex (www.onenessuniversity.org). Deeksha is theorized to progressively calm the right parietal lobe and activate the left pre-frontal cortex, a balance that is correlated with subjective well-being and prosocial behavior (Davidson, 2001, 2004; Davidson & Irwin, 1999; Davidson et. al., 2000, 2004). Rationale for Study Energy medicine as a healing modality has been used in numerous cultures for thousands of years, but the instruments to measure these subtle interventions are only beginning to be developed (Gerber, 2001; Oschman, 2000, 2004). Historically taught through oral tradition and experiential practice, energy medicine has recently begun to be studied systematically (http://www.energypsych.org; Gerber, 2001; Oschman, 2000, 2004). As a therapeutic intervention, energy medicine has been claimed by the field of Energy Psychology (http://www.energypsych.org). However, this author posits that there is a theoretical and practical consonance between the fields of Energy Psychology and Somatic Psychology, and that energy medicine may be understood as a Somatic Psychology intervention. A full theoretical explication of how the two fields overlap is beyond the scope of this study, but relevant similarities and differences are discussed in the literature review.
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Given that this writer serves a highly vulnerable population (traumatized migrant children and their families), it would have been unethical to run a preliminary clinical experiment with this innovative intervention; Deeksha as a therapeutic intervention has yet to be systematically tested with vulnerable populations. However, over 10,000 people around the world have self-selected to become Deeksha givers, and millions of people worldwide have received at least one touch of Deeksha since the initiation process became open to non-Indians in 2003 (Ardaugh, 2007). Therefore, this writer began a “first-order” (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006, p. 231) scientific investigation of the effects of this energy medicine by examining pre- and post-treatment measures on a (a) standardized anxiety scale, a (b) standardized body awareness scale, and (c) EEG outputs of sub-clinical, selfreferring, randomly assigned adult subjects. The purpose of these scales was to measure whether Deeksha reduced anxiety and increased body awareness compared to a placebo, and whether it balanced neurological electricity for more optimal functioning. Rudestam and Newton (2001, pg. 29) stated, “Change studies (authors’ italics), in which a treatment or program is being evaluated for its effectiveness, may… lend themselves well to experimental designs…. A number of ingenious solutions have been proposed to deal with the ethics of denying treatment to the needy, including the use of placebos”. As physical sensations and painful emotions sometimes become more intense with intervention prior to being relieved (potentially skewing preliminary outcomes
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in a short-term experiment), this study assessed trends that arose between groups over the course of one month of treatment, to determine whether longer term treatment may be necessary for full benefit. This began to lay the groundwork for future “second order” (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006, p. 231) investigations of the modality to look at how it works. Reich, a founding father of Somatic Psychology, theorized that one’s life force, or orgone could be beneficially manipulated for healing purposes (1973, 1987), although subsequent Somatic Psychology theoreticians have largely overlooked research into such controversial possibilities. Current Somatic Psychology literature references the trained and intuitively empathic attunement of uninitiated touch in the amelioration of anxiety and development of body awareness (Caldwell, 2007; La Barre, 2001). However, unlike the field of Energy Psychology, Somatic Psychology does not yet acknowledge the possible transfer of healing energy between clinician and client, or address potential changes of consciousness through such a transfer. Instead, somatically-oriented clinicians must learn to rely on their felt sense of a client’s need in the moment, and decide if, how, and when to touch in a variety of therapeutic constellations; Somatic Psychology theorizes that the skillfulness of the practitioner, earned after years of higher education, training and practice, is what facilitates healing with such touch. The considerable resources required to become a licensed Somatic Psychologist make it an exclusive profession, therefore limiting the population that
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can benefit from body-inclusive trauma resolution interventions. Somatic Psychology remains on the outskirts of psychotherapeutic healing modalities, though gaining traction in mainstream service delivery as evidenced by the increasing use of somatic terminology in current trainings and hybrid education programs. However, this author, who is an employee of a public agency, has observed that many somatic intervention goals, objectives and techniques are not widely funded by insurance providers, particularly for low-income recipients of Medi-Cal. This author asserts that currently, although the most privileged members of modern society may access Somatic Psychology practitioners for holistic treatment, underprivileged clients remain underserved, which betrays the ideals of psychological service. This study sought to elucidate the hybrid nature of Deeksha as an intervention situated in both Energy Psychology and Somatic Psychology. Through EEG results, this researcher aimed to increase the objective evidence available for both Deeksha, and the field of Somatic Psychology. Though this study did not reveal statistically-significant results, it generated evidence that Deeksha does no harm, and its use is correlated with beneficial trends for recipients. Summary of Chapters Review of the relevant literature follows to provide a rationale for testing Deeksha as an intervention for sub-clinical trauma (as operationalized via standardized measurements for anxiety and body awareness). A statement of the problem was articulated through the research questions and hypotheses, prior to
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delineating the methodology for data collection and analysis. Results of the experiment were reviewed as they related to the hypotheses, and further explored in a discussion of the study’s results and limitations, as well as potential implications for the field of Somatic Psychology and recommendations for future research. Appendices containing the tables and figures relevant to the discussion of results can be found immediately prior to the references for this study.
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Review of the Literature and Hypotheses The current literature review begins with a theoretical review of how Energy Psychology and Somatic Psychology overlap. A discussion of energy medicine is then offered, in order to establish Deeksha’s role as a Somatic Psychology intervention. A review of the literature on affect regulation, anxiety interventions, body awareness, and subjective well-being is provided next to orient the reader to the study, and a review of the rationale for the study design will be put forth. This section concludes with a synthesis of studies examined, providing relevance for the design of this current study, and articulating the statement of the problem via research questions and hypotheses. To find the literature for this study, relevant key word searches were performed between March and September 2008, utilizing the Google search engine on the World Wide Web and the academic databases PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection hosted by EBSCO. The number of hits returned for each of the key words (i.e., anxiety, body awareness, energy medicine, Reiki, somatic awareness, Therapeutic Touch, trauma) on the World Wide
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Web totaled over 8000. All but 49 articles were ruled out because they were not germane to the scope of the research question. As was stated above, there is no peer-reviewed research regarding Deeksha. This author’s search results revealed that the majority of energy medicine research has consisted of single-case studies that, when quantitative at all, examined esoteric physiological changes not relevant to this study’s focus. A large portion of anxiety studies examined specific anxiety disorders, which were ruled out of this study. Somatic awareness studies tended to be theoretical, qualitative or focused on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Somatic awareness studies also explored the therapeutic implications for clients who had been receiving highly specialized and largely inaccessible forms of intervention not applicable to this study. Trauma research tends to focus on calamitous medical and social implications of shock trauma, with a secondary analysis of individual psychological indices. For these reasons, the overall available literature was parsed down to the small subset referenced for this study. Energy Psychology and Somatic Psychology Comparisons Energy Psychology. Energy Psychology utilizes a wide variety of Eastern healing modalities (e.g., acupuncture, acupressure, energy medicine) and Western psychotherapy techniques and technology in the form of treatment tools and measurement instruments (e.g., Poly-contrast Interference Photography, PET scans, Alpha [brainwave] stimulators, quantitative EEGs) to diagnose and treat embodied
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emotional/psychological disturbances. The theory behind Energy Psychology is that psychological processes are inextricable from the mind-body connection, so in order to facilitate desired change most efficiently, practitioners must utilize body-based practices to help alter one’s problematic beliefs, thoughts, and painful affect. Energy Psychology practitioners tend to conceptualize psychological processes as byproducts of body-based consciousness, such that healing or purifying the energy of organs, glands, meridians, or the electromagnetic field around the human body allows for a more peaceful sense of embodiment and pro-social thinking process (http://www.energypsych.org). Such body-based balance is considered to be necessary for clients to enjoy positive affect states, which is a primary goal of Energy Psychology. Most peer-reviewed articles of Energy Psychology intervention trials demonstrate a statistically significant benefit to using Energy Psychology interventions compared to placebos, self-directed support groups, and other forms of traditional talk therapy (Aickin et al., 2007; Andrews, Baker, Carrington, Polglase & Wells, 2003; Chevalier, Lambrov & Pratt, 2005; Holder & Waite, 2003; Pulos, Swingle & Swingle, 2005; Rowe, 2005). Although much energy medicine research is published in specialized journals for alternative and complementary medicine (Angostinelli, Bid, Miles, Nayak & Shiflett, 2002; Burden, Herron-Marx, Hicks & Price-Knol, 2008; Dressen & Singg, 1998), some appears in more mainstream journals for clinical psychology and allopathic medicine (Astin, Harkness & Ernst,
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2000; Cram & Wirth, 1993; D’amico, Gordon, Hudgens, & Merenstein, 1998; Engebretson & Wardell, 2001; Gagne & Toye, 1994; Heidt, 1981; Kramer, 1990; Laing & Simington, 1993;Olson & Sneed, 1992, 1995; Quinn, 1993; Wetzel, 1989), thus demonstrating that Energy Psychology has begun to be accepted as an adjunctive service within more traditional allopathic health practices. Perhaps due to the prolific use of technology and standardized measures, Energy Psychology interventions appear to be more widely referenced in allopathic studies than Somatic Psychology interventions. Somatic Psychology. Somatic Psychology largely places its focus on the relationship among moment-to-moment sensory awareness, emotional co-regulatory processes, and the phenomena of embodied experience (e.g., defensive body postures and fascial armoring, psychological states associated with developmental capacities and limitations, intrinsically fulfilling movement vs. conditioned movement) (Aposhyan, 1999, 2004; Hartley, 2004; Johnson, 1995; Johnson, 2007; Macnaughton, 2004; Rothschild; 2000, 2006; Seick, 2007; Selver, 1999; Weaver, 2008, 2010). Somatic Psychology relies on various non-technology-based systems to diagnose and treat emotional blockages, chronic patterns, and emotional/psychological dis-ease through touch, mindful movement, and awareness practices, in order to improve overall quality of life through embodied experience (Aposhyan, 1999; Fosha, 2000; Hartley, 2004; Johnson, 1995; Macnaughton, 2004; Seick, 2007; Selver, 1999; Siegel & Solomon, 2003; Weaver, 2008, 2010).
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Desired somatic psychotherapeutic outcomes include increased body awareness, increased self-awareness, and increased relational fulfillment as a function of resolution of problematic embodied intrapsychic processes (Aposhyan, 1999; Caldwell, 2007; Johnson, 1995; La Barre, 2001; Macnaughton, 2004; Sieck, 2007; Weaver, 2008, 2010; Witt, 2007), all of which may generally facilitate a greater sense of overall ease and well-being. Somatic Psychology draws upon recent advances in affective neuroscience and trauma resolution work (Coan & Davidson, in press; Davidson, 2001, 2004; Davidson & Irwin, 1999; Levine, 1997; Perry, 1998; Rothschild, 2000; Schore, 1994, 2003; Siegel &Solomon, 2003; Weaver, 2008, 2010), and has begun to consolidate research through the European Association of Body Psychotherapy, and the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy. Neither Energy Psychology nor Somatic Psychology has sufficient empirical research or theoretical explanation to have become integrated into mainstream therapeutic practices; both fields are in the formative stage of generating theory and conducting empirical investigation. The two fields actively include the physical body in their conceptualization of mental health and emotional well-being, and both prefer a body-based, bottom-up process to assist the client in releasing problematic patterns, as opposed to a personality-based, top-down focus on talk, insight, and emotions (Leitch, 2007). Although this writer could have selected any number of Energy Psychology interventions to test for Somatic Psychology outcomes, she opted
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for Deeksha based on the rapid rate of its growth as an intervention, available anecdotal evidence of its benefits, paucity of current empirical data, and portability. Deeksha is an Eastern energy medicine that reputedly facilitates desired Somatic Psychology outcomes (Ardaugh, 2007; Windrider, 2006) through nontechnology-based systems of diagnosis and treatment, largely through the laying on of hands by an initiate (i.e., an individual who has completed a Oneness Universityapproved experiential retreat and maintains permission to transmit Deeksha). Because Somatic Psychology relies upon the appropriate use of touch and body/selfawareness practices in order to relieve clients of symptoms, this writer asserts that Deeksha is not only an Energy Psychology intervention, but is also a Somatic Psychology intervention. Energy Medicine Energy medicine (e.g., Deeksha, Integrated Energy Therapy, Polarity Therapy, Pranic Healing, Qi Gong, Reiki, Shen, Therapeutic Touch) contains forms of ancient healing interventions (Brennan, 1987; Gerber, 2001; Oschman, 2000, 2004) subsumed under the nascent field of Energy Psychology (which also uses other forms of body-based interventions to alleviate emotional suffering or reduce symptoms in clients). Although there is increasing empirical evidence for the benefits of energy medicine in physiological health, little empirical evidence exists regarding the use of energy medicine for psychological healing. Most energy medicine traditions theorize that through an initiation process the practitioner
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becomes capable of receiving and transmitting some sort of universal life force (also known as chi, prana, grace), which is then focused for desired therapeutic outcomes (Brennan, 1987; Gerber, 2001; Oschman, 2000, 2004). Among the energy medicine modalities in which this author is initiated, Reiki’s initiation process and practice is most similar to Deeksha’s. Reiki. Reiki has been practiced for physical/emotional healing for thousands of years (Gerber, 2001); it is one energy medicine modality that has been pilot-tested on anxiety in post-operative women using a quasi-experimental design7 (O’Connor, 2006). The experimental group (n=10) received traditional nursing care and three 30minute sessions of Reiki, but the control group (n=12) received only the traditional nursing care. The experimental group reported less pain and requested fewer analgesics than the control group; this group also reported less state anxiety than the control group at 72 hours post-operation (O’Connor, 2006). The confounding variables of touch and devoted time/attention were not controlled for in this small sample size study, nor were tightly controlled pre-and post-tests for state/trait anxiety implemented. Moreover, as the paper did not address whether subjects were randomly assigned or self-selected to receive Reiki when it was offered (accounting for a priori belief sets), this study did not provide convincing empirical evidence that Reiki was responsible for reduced anxiety in postoperative women. Reiki’s hand
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There was no statement regarding random assignment of subjects.
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placement follows patterns similar to a more widely recognized modality used in Western hospitals, known as therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch of patients by nurses is a modern modality (not requiring a traditional initiation process) that has been tested numerous times. However, most studies address physiologic and medical outcomes, rather than psychological ones. A well-controlled study (Fischer & Whitcher, 1979) investigated emotional response to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting (n=48: 24 men and 24 women who were evenly divided by number and gender between the experimental and control conditions via random assignment). This study’s authors noted that women in the experimental group experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological responses than women in the no-touch control group. Men in the experimental group reacted more negatively than men in the control group, however. This study was undertaken nearly thirty years ago, when social mores may have been less favorable for soothing men at a time when they would prefer to appear tough and self-supportive. The 2X2 factorial study closely resembles this study’s design and assesses various domains that overlap with Somatic Psychology (e.g., subjective sense of embodied well-being in response to intervention, reduced anxiety, physiological measures closer to healthy normative baseline). The therapeutic touch study provides solid empirical evidence that, depending on the gender and era of the recipient, there may be some psychological benefit from this energy medicine.
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Deeksha. To date, no published peer-reviewed articles exist regarding systematic investigation of the energy medicine known as Deeksha. Two of the world’s leading neuroscientists currently have Deeksha studies underway: Andrew Newberg, MD and Richard Davidson, PhD. Jefferson Hospital’s Director of Research, Andrew Newberg, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Radiology, Psychiatry, and Religious Studies. In addition to being a staff physician in Nuclear Medicine and Nuclear Cardiology, he has authored seventy-five articles, essays, and book chapters, including monographs in the emerging field of Neurotheology (http://www.andynewberg.com). Newberg has written extensively on neurobiological activity’s correlation with subjective mental states, including transcendent, religious or spiritual states (2001, 2006, 2009). Cognitive neuroscientist Richard Davidson, from the University of Wisconsin, is currently conducting a comparative analysis via fMRI scans of Deeksha dhasas who facilitate initiations and are the population most highly exposed to this intervention. Those results have yet to be published. Previous peer-reviewed studies co-authored by Davidson have focused on various components of affective neuroscience (Backonja, Davidson, Johnstone & Salomos, 2004; Coan et al., in press; Dalton et al., 2004; Davidson et al., 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004), including the effects of meditation; one study used Tibetan lamas as subjects to demonstrate the neuro-cognitive map of electromagnetic frequency correlated with positive state and trait mindsets, such as unconditional love, and comparing those neuro-cognitive
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maps to laypeople’s fMRI scans before and after meditation training (Davidson et al., 2004). This study demonstrated a replicable pattern of brainwave activity achieved after meditation training. Comparable results may be found in long-term Deeksha recipients. Two non-scholarly books exist about Deeksha in print (Ardaugh, 2007; Windrider, 2006), and anecdotal evidence is available online (http://www.onenessblessing-dfw.com), http://www.onenessforall.com), http://www.onenessmovement.org). Although Windrider’s first-person case study of his Deeksha initiation process elucidated his (and some of his wife’s) phenomenological experience of receiving Deeksha for an extended period of time, Ardaugh provided a grounded theory approach to reporting on preliminary anecdotal evidence and neurological research regarding the effects of the energy medicine. Ardaugh also provided autobiographical information from his initial exposure to Deeksha, and included qualitative data from interviews with people from around the world. A primary lesson given to Deeksha initiates is the importance of consciously choosing to experience pain fully without escaping from it. This suggestion is based on the belief that it is attempts to manage or avoid our pain, rather than experience it fully (in the process of releasing it), which prolong suffering. Similar to Somatic Experiencing (Levine, 1997) and Focusing (Gendlin, 1982), Deeksha recipients are guided to track and intensify sensations, follow movements of the body, utilize
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breath awareness, and practice awareness of emotional and mental processes until pain has been fully discharged. Deeksha recipients are typically told that they will experience, over time, either an internal dissolution or an external solution to the problem at hand, which means that the one suffering will come to accept, digest and release the painful experience, or the problematic situation will actually change. Deeksha-givers are typically taught to share these self-regulation tools with Deeksha recipients, but the healing of one’s psychic pain is reputed to be facilitated by the energy medicine itself. Deeksha is intended to shift the electrical activity of the brain from a defensive self-centered stance (with a mental process involuntarily and constantly evaluating stimuli, resulting in emotional discomfort), to a more balanced and regulated perception (experiencing stimuli directly without the incessant evaluation of the mind, resulting in a more peaceful disposition). Affect Regulation Various psychological theorists (e.g., Maslow, Pierce) have suggested that our survival needs (e.g., safety, nourishment) must be met before we can successfully integrate the capacities now thought to be represented by the higher cortical regions of the human brain (e.g., affiliation, contribution, altruism). When survival and physical/emotional safety needs chronically go unmet, our ability to develop higher executive functioning becomes compromised, resulting in emotional disorganization and difficulty navigating emotionally complex situations (Goleman, 1995; Perry, 1998). Threats to our well-being tend to signal psychological (and
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physiological) alarms, which can manifest as emotional or behavioral dysregulation (Goleman, 1995; Schore, 2003). Children whose developmental needs are routinely unmet by caretakers and/or the environment, for example, may struggle with unhealthy coping mechanisms in response to ambient threats, which can result in lifelong self-regulation difficulties, including chronic anxiety and dissociation from the body (Amini, Lannon & Lewis, 2000; Fosha, 2000; Perry, 1998; Schore, 1994, 2003; Sieck, 2007). Such unresolved experiences can also result in limiting core beliefs, which filter incoming data, and place a negative skew on expectations (Sieck, 2007). Fischer, Frey, and Greitemeyer (2008), in reviewing research on selfregulation, noted that people instinctively attend to environmental data that confirms a priori beliefs, and that being prompted to confront a priori beliefs that diverge from observable reality may result in cognitive dissonance. For instance, if one has been exposed to emotionally disruptive or chaotic environments to the degree that such surroundings become one’s norm, such conditioning makes it functional for one to expect disruption and chaos; that same conditioning may make it difficult to relax those expectations in the absence of their usefulness. The result is that many humans tend to replicate problematic, but familiar, patterns from their past, because the habit of being anxious or dissociated from the body has become normal. Such a tendency may be due to a belief that one is in danger, even when that is no longer the case.
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The authors stated, “standpoint-inconsistent information increases the averse motivational state of dissonance, is more difficult and complex to process, is perceived to be of low quality, threatens the recipient’s self-concept, and evokes negative emotions” (p. 382). Although we may have overwhelming evidence to the contrary, our limiting core beliefs, particularly when not recognized as such, tend to have a powerful hold on our phenomenological experience of life. In order to let go of limiting beliefs that cause anxiety and physical discomfort, people “must regulate their immediate need to receive standpoint-consistent feedback and must endure the negative cognitions and emotions associated with standpoint-inconsistent information” (Fischer et al., p. 382). One theory about why this is so difficult to do is that “processing of and confrontation with standpoint-inconsistent information might require self-regulation resources, …[which] can become depleted if a specific task (e.g., enduring the negative implications of standpoint-inconsistent information) draws upon this type of energy” (Fischer et al., p. 382). In other words, in order for deep psychological change to occur, one must be able to endure the painful emotions and thoughts that arise in the process. If unable to do so, one might live one’s life with a limiting core belief laid down early in life. In psychotherapy, this confrontation of limiting beliefs typically requires a depth of trust developed over time with the practitioner. Self-regulation difficulties resulting in anxiety have been investigated. Clarke, MacLeod, and Shirazee (2008) evaluated the hypothesis that an adaptive
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hypervigilance in dangerous situations later predicts an individual’s tendency toward trait anxiety. Individuals initially exposed to threatening stimuli indeed demonstrated higher vulnerability for trait anxiety (p. 48). Deeksha reputedly facilitates reappraisal of emotionally charged memories by increasing one’s tolerance for recollection and discharge of painful emotions, which theoretically reduces the vulnerability for trait anxiety. At the same time, Deeksha recipients reputedly maintain a healthy capacity for dealing effectively with stressors when these are present.
Anxiety Studies Research on the amelioration of anxiety disorders has typically employed experimental designs. This study did not address phobias, nor any specific anxiety disorder, but rather, the free-floating anxiety that appears to be typical of a nonclinical population with common developmental traumas such as might be based in typical attachment disruptions; studies referenced below were used as models for the current study. Experiments on phobias and PTSD treatments have been conducted in trials of four to eight weeks (Bryant et al., 2008; Clum et al., 2008), and other anxiety disorders (such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder) have been treated in twelve or more weeks (Cummings & Fristad, 2007; Daly et al., 2008).
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One randomized clinical trial (n=118) assessing the relative effectiveness of a body-inclusive modality (i.e., exposure therapy) and cognitive-behavioral therapy provided sound empirical evidence that subjects experienced more longitudinal benefit from intervention when bodily sensation (i.e., body awareness) was intentionally included in the intervention (Bryant et al., 2008). A second randomized trial (Hassmen, Johansson & Jouper, 2008) measured the effects of qigong on anxiety (n=59). Compared to controls that practiced qigong movement but did not also receive hands-on qigong treatments, the subjects exposed to this energy medicine and movement modality demonstrated greater benefit in the six-week experiment. Because all 59 subjects were qigong practitioners outside of the experiment, this study did not adequately control for a priori beliefs or the amount of time each group may have spent utilizing the movement intervention during the experimental period, thus did not provide sound empirical evidence of this intervention’s effectiveness.
Body Awareness Increased body awareness is a Somatic Psychology goal (Aposhyan, 1999, 2004; Caldwell, 2007; Fosha, 2000; Hartley, 2004; Johnson, 1995; Johnson, 2007; Levine, 1997; Rothschild, 2000, 2006; Selver, 1999; Sieck, 2007; Weaver, 2008, 2010). By exploring clients’ body-inclusive signals to help them gain deeper insight into meeting their needs more effectively, Somatic Psychology practitioners directly
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and indirectly facilitate increased body awareness in clients. As Somatic Psychology strives to heal the Cartesian split of mind and body, and such a reintegration becomes more commonplace in empirical therapeutic investigations, standardized tools to measure body awareness will likely become more diversified. Limited options currently exist for measuring body awareness empirically. Theoretical pioneers are beginning to delineate how one might start to note improved use of the body for one’s well-being. Hunt noted, “Expanded versus depleted felt presence/embodiment, as outwardly indexed in measures of physical balance and spatial abilities, becomes the general dimension underlying integrative versus disintegrative transformations of consciousness” (2007, p. 209). The thoroughness of this theoretical exploration provides a framework for future experiments to investigate these variables and provides context for two related studies. One of these studies (Auerbach, Gramling & Rausch, 2006) began to differentiate the therapeutic benefits between mindfulness and body awareness by teaching either meditation or Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) to experimental groups versus a control condition of self-talk for relaxation. This study reported similarities in the effectiveness of twenty-minute group training in meditation or PMR to reduce state anxiety after exposure to a transitory stressor. However, it demonstrated that the PMR group had the most beneficial response, with the greatest decline in somatic anxiety. The sample size (387), controlled conditions,
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discreteness of variables, and rigor of measurement suggest that this study generated meaningful evidence of the value of increased body awareness in reducing anxiety. A third study (Boyer, et al., 2006, p., 1132) that included body awareness indices for anxiety reduction found that intentionally using the body through physical engagement in pleasant distractions from anxiety-producing thoughts was more effective than using cognitive distractions alone, such as thought-blocking. Reports from 164 adolescents with psychosomatic symptoms were codified to find that youth who included their body more in self-regulation activities, via acceptance8 and distraction9, suffered fewer symptoms than those youth who did not reference their bodies. The sample size, thoroughness of qualitative analysis, and rigor of study design suggest this study offers relevant empirical data correlating the use of bodyinclusive signals with improved well-being. The Deeksha practitioner, through placement of his or her hands on the recipient’s head, utilizes the somatic interventions of appropriate touch and focus on sensation. Deeksha differs from other energy medicine modalities in that the hands do not get placed anywhere else on the body, thus respecting a wider variety of cultural norms regarding propriety between practitioner and recipient, as well as increased facility regarding the location of intervention. The practitioner is allegedly filled with the energy medicine in order to be able to transmit it, and rather than
8
Acceptance is defined as, “a disposition to tolerate people or situations” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/acceptance). 9 Distraction is defined as, “drawing one’s attention away from something” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/distraction).
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receiving what the client may be expressing from their emotional system (as often happens in talk therapy), is conceptualized to be transmitting this universal life force energy to the recipient. This study did not seek to measure or test whether the practitioner is affected by transmitting the energy medicine, but future studies could seek to determine whether the practitioner indeed emerges resourced after giving Deeksha, and is therefore more protected from vicarious trauma (Rothschild, 2006). Statement of the Problem This study sought to measure whether Deeksha, a Somatic Psychology intervention requiring comparatively minimal training to perform, effectively reduced anxiety and increased body awareness in a short-term experiment with participants at a sub-clinical level of functioning. This study intended to lay the groundwork for future trauma resolution studies utilizing Deeksha as a primary or adjunctive intervention, as there are now Deeksha-givers worldwide who have selfselected to become initiated with the understanding that they are to give the intervention without expecting anything material in return. Such a population willing to serve in clinical and field-based settings requires empirical data to support their healing intentions in order that international relief organizations and public agencies might integrate their services. The statement of the problem is further articulated in the following questions and hypotheses.
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Questions and Hypotheses The first research question is, “Does short-term exposure to Deeksha reduce anxiety in recipients?” Hypothesis 1 is: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant decline in state anxiety relative to those in the control group. (The null hypothesis is: Deeksha recipients will not experience a significant decline in state anxiety relative to subjects in the control group.) The second question is, “Does short-term exposure to Deeksha increase body awareness?” Hypothesis 2 is: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant increase in body awareness relative to those in the control group. (The null hypothesis is that Deeksha recipients will not experience a significant increase in body awareness relative to subjects in the control group.) The third research question is, “Does Deeksha balance neurophysiology for improved neurological functioning?” Hypothesis 3 is: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant improvement in neurophysiological functioning relative to those in the control group. (The null hypothesis is that Deeksha recipients will not experience a significant improvement in neurophysiological functioning relative to subjects in the control group.)
Definition of Terms Anxiety. Anxiety is a term whose definitions range from the colloquial to the psychological and medical. Because this study’s participants were selected based on the absence of obvious psychological or medical anxiety indicators (as reported by
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them during pre-screening interviews), psychological and medical definitions are relevant to this study only to the extent that subjects might identify symptoms measured on the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (see discussion of this instrument in Data Collection). For the purposes of this study, anxiety was defined as psychological and somatic discomfort in response to stressors. The following psychological and medical definitions are relevant to the definition used in this study. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-TR lists twelve different diagnoses under the heading “Anxiety Disorders,” suggesting a wide spectrum of etiology and manifestation of the symptom set, which can include: “restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge; being easily fatigued; difficulty concentrating or mind going blank; irritability; muscle tension; sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless unsatisfying sleep)” (p. 436). Clinical level anxiety interferes with daily functioning at a problematic level, differentiating it from the free-floating anxiety typical of a normative population. “Free-floating anxiety is not associated with a particular object, event, or situation” (http://www.psyweb.com/glossary/ffanxiety), and “may be rational, such as the anxiety about doing well in a new job, about one’s own or someone else’s illness, about passing an examination, or about moving to a new community. People also feel realistic anxiety about world dangers, such as the possibility of war, and about social and economic changes that may affect their livelihood or way of living.
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Most persons find healthy ways to deal with their normal quota of anxiety” (retrieved on March 228, 2012 from http://www.medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/freefloating+anxiety). Body awareness. Body awareness includes mindfulness of not only proprioception or physiological processes, but the “raw (uninterpreted) data” of one’s sensory relationship to one’s surroundings (Caldwell, 2007); such information tends to be less consciously processed than the psychological or meaning-making story which is experienced in response to such data. In Somatic Psychology, body awareness is cultivated as an antidote to dissociation, which may be defined as “(an) altered sense of time, reduced sensations of pain, absence of terror or horror (when recalling traumatic events)” (Rothschild, 2000, p. 13), or “a lack of connection to one’s body, one’s feelings, and the present reality” (Aposhyan, 1999, p.185). In dissociation, “the central nervous system is limited in its ability to perceive, process, and respond to current stimuli in a constructive manner”(Aposhyan, 2004, p. 71).
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Research Methods In order to assess the benefits and limitations of Deeksha as experienced by short-term Deeksha recipients, this author undertook a quantitative study of Deeksha’s effects on anxiety and body awareness via relative average change between pre- and post-intervention measures of two dependent variables in the two groups (i.e., a series of non-parametric t-tests due to non-normality of data distribution and small sample size). As the intervention is subtle and may require longer-term intervention to demonstrate benefits, she also collected pre- and postintervention quantitative EEG data on each subject, to determine if measured electrical changes in subjects’ brains correlated with a measure of increased subjective well-being (i.e., lower reported anxiety). Given that the intervention is relatively novel in the United States, but yet has been experienced by millions of people worldwide (http://www.onenessmovement.org ), the rigor of a wellconstructed experiment was crucial to determine whether there are Somatic Psychology benefits to the intervention. This researcher recruited subjects for a brief pre-pilot exploration in order to establish the study’s EEG methodology. During the pre-pilot exploration, the EEG technician (Juan Acosta-Urquidi, PhD) noted what he referred to as “unheard of” increases in this author’s EEG indicators of brain coherence when she intended to shift into the Deeksha-giving state. During further pre-pilot exploration, similarly surprising results were found during simultaneous EEG recording of this author’s
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brain coherence and that of a range of subjects. These findings are not relevant to this study’s methodology, but will be explored further in the Discussion section. Following the pre-pilot study, a subsequent pilot study, involving four subjects/each in the experimental and placebo groups, was used for a power analysis to determine the required sample size.
The experiment itself was conducted during four
month-long, four-week trials that were separated by four to six weeks of subject recruitment time. The sessions took place once per week in rented office space in a convenient and safe location in Santa Cruz County (The Center for Transformational Neurophysiology). Three EEG technicians were employed over the duration of the year-long study (pre-pilot to completion of the experiment). Each EEG technician worked with a single experimental cohort of approximately eight subjects for the full month-long round (four subjects per control and experimental group, except in the case of attrition). Every subject in both groups was measured by the same EEG technician for that entire month-long round, to mitigate for confounding variables in the change of EEG technician. This author employed one Deeksha-giver (in private practice, but without a Board of Behavioral Sciences license,) and one placebo-giver (a licensed PsyD psychologist, specializing in attachment-based therapy) for the entire study. The intervention facilitators were matched for sex, age, years in healing practice, and body-based regulation via ongoing yoga practice. Both were also previously trained
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as Hakomi practitioners, affording them experience as somatic therapists. None of the research assistants were informed of the study’s hypotheses. Subjects and Sampling Published EEG studies typically measure between five and 45 subjects (http://www.eeginfo.com), focusing more on within-subject changes than betweensubject changes. Power analysis of this experiment’s pilot study results recommended a larger sample size than was obtained in the timeframe allotted for this study. This author used random sampling of 30 adults (ages 22-72) via dissemination of bilingual (English and Spanish) flyers seeking subjects who wished to increase well-being through a short series of brief somatic interventions. Flyers were posted at Santa Cruz County grocery stores, bookstores, post offices, one counseling center, and other public posting sites. Ultimately, no subjects volunteered from the counseling center. This author spoke over the phone with prospective participants to rule out those with clinical distress levels and/or clinical functional limitations, as described in the introduction. Pre-screened subjects were then randomly assigned via alternate assignment to either the experimental or control group prior to implementation of the pre-intervention measures. Subjects had given informed consent to participate in Somatic Psychology research (see Appendix D). They received an incentive of weekly massage and health food store gift certificates, as well as entry into a final raffle for a weekend stay at a beach house. Those who participated in the placebo
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group were offered the experimental intervention once the dissertation defense was completed. Due to attrition in the placebo group, the final sample included 27 adults ages 22-72, living in Santa Cruz and neighboring Counties. The demographic breakdown of subjects’ self-identity is as follows: Table 1 Subject Self-Identity
Caucasian Only
Mestizo/ Latino/ Mexicano
AfricanAmerican
Asian
Caucasian + Semitic
Caucasian + MiddleEastern
Caucasian + Native American
Females (16 total)
10
1
1
1
2
1
0
Males (11 total)
5
2
0
0
2
1
1
Ethical Protection of Subjects Potential dangers for the subjects included exploring an unresolved traumatic incident, sharing personal information that one did not want analyzed, or triggering other emotional pain, which could have required follow-up care by a mental health professional. As delineated by the Institutional Review Board, this author sought to protect participants from any suffering and provided referrals for mental health care with each informed consent. Subjects were not required to answer skipped questions on their self-reports or disclose information to any of the research assistants involved 46
in data collection or giving the interventions. Subjects were supported in self-care with a small buffet of snacks and options of comfortable seating for filling out their tests and receiving their interventions. As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, this author had the training necessary to screen potential participants over the telephone, assessing for any obvious ongoing psychological limitations (e.g., severe unresolved trauma) that may have precluded participation in this study. She provided informed consent to the subjects using guidelines provided by Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She protected the identity of participants by keeping their tests and EEGs locked and by removing identifying information from the dissertation. Role of Researcher This author included autobiographical data regarding immediate and longitudinal responses to giving and receiving Deeksha, because they informed her bias and interest in pursuing Deeksha as an evidence-based practice for clinicians and emergency relief workers. She sought increased reflexivity regarding biases via close dialogue with committee members and her personal therapist, and differentiated herself from the experiment by using research assistants to provide the interventions in order to limit the impact of her a priori belief set on interactions with the subjects. The researcher handed subjects their paper-pencil self-report tests with limited interaction, and sat away from the intervention room reading a book to
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minimize contact with subjects while being available as needed to research assistants during the data collection process. Data Collection Each subject received one six-minute intervention per week whether in the experimental (Deeksha) or control (placebo) condition. The placebo intervention was identical to the experimental intervention in hand placement, pressure, and duration, but the research assistant facilitating the placebo intervention was not initiated in Deeksha, so she was providing a somatic intervention without the aid of a recognized energy medicine being transmitted through her hands, though she was intending positive outcomes and soothing for the recipient. In order to focus the data collection on the effects of the purported energy medicine transmission itself, subjects in this study were informed that they would be receiving a brief touch to the head, but were intentionally kept blind to all teachings, claims, and intentions associated with the intervention (see Informed Consent in Appendix D). Thus subjects were not exposed to any psychoeducational preparations recommended by the Deeksha community. EEG sessions (the first and fourth sessions) lasted approximately one hour, in order for subjects to complete the paper-and-pencil tests (before the first intervention, and after the last intervention in week four), be fitted with the cap, and be measured in four (4) six-minute conditions: sitting alone with QEEG technician, to take a resting baseline reading; sitting with practitioner also in room, prior to
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intervention; practitioner’s hands floating over EEG cap, to minimize electrical interference while transmitting; and sitting after intervention, practitioner still in room, for residual effect reading. Participants’ eyes were gently kept closed via placement of a bandana over eye pads, in order to minimize EEG interference; participants’ eyes remained closed throughout all four conditions. The two sessions in between the EEG sessions were delivered in a more typical format of the practitioner being able to lay her hands directly on top of the subject’s head. As we did not collect trend data for the second and third sessions, these required only about fifteen minutes per session. This gave the subject time to settle comfortably into his or her chair, exchange any social niceties that helped him or her feel more comfortable, receive the six-minute somatic intervention, and rest for a few moments after the intervention prior to leaving. No prescribed verbal incantation, mantra, or other statement was made during the interventions, but the subjects were free to speak, and the research assistants were free to respond in a supportive manner. This researcher had explained to the research assistants the importance of reducing confounding variables by minimizing verbal interaction with the subjects. Thus, although the research assistants engaged verbally with participants to the degree necessary to prepare them, their interactions were focused on the intervention touch itself rather than on social interaction or verbal processing.
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Data Analysis This author utilized pre-and post-treatment measurements of both anxiety and body awareness as measured by the standardized tools (Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire and Body Intelligence Scale). A series of non-parametric t-tests was completed to compare the relative average change in the two dependent variables in each of the two groups via pre-and post-means of the two standardized measures. This author then performed a delayed post-test with the validated measures one month after the end of the experiment (thus comparing three points in time), to assess for longer term outcomes; validated measure statistical processing and results were analyzed in consultation with Sandeep Chaudhari. EEGs were processed first through the NeuroGuide database, then through the Human Brain Institute database, to mitigate for any shortcomings in the either database. Finally, this author contracted out for statistical analysis of the EEGs with a second specialist, Leslie Sherlin, PhD, and consulted with him and Langdon Roberts, MA, QEEG (primary EEG technician and owner of The Center for Transformational Neurophysiology) regarding the results and meaning. Statistical analysis was broken into two components- that of the EEG data, and that of the paper/pencil tests- and then compared.
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Electroencephalograms Each subject generated approximately 90 pages of data per EEG session (of which there were two), per database (of which there were two), totaling 360 pages per subject. The EEG statistical analysis for eight subjects generated over 2000 pages of data. The EEG raw files were processed through the NeuroGuide database for initial review of pre-and post-test outcomes to determine where statistical analysis should focus. To mitigate for any shortcomings in the NeuroGuide database, the raw files were then processed through the Human Brain Institute database, and statistical analysis was performed. Statistical analysis of the EEGs addressed the overall amplitude profiles (absolute and relative power), as well as the presence of any differences in global coherence, phase shift profiles, and/or frontal asymmetry. EEG analyses focused on the following comparisons to address the hypothesis regarding reduction of anxiety: (1) baseline of first session/preintervention versus first session/post intervention; (2) baseline of last session/preintervention versus last session/post-intervention; (3) any differences among the four EEG measurement conditions during the first EEG session (baseline prior to practitioner entering room, practitioner entering, practitioner transmitting intervention, post intervention); and (4) any differences between the results of the four conditions from the first and second EEG sessions (weeks one and four of the series). All four of these comparisons were made within the cohort of all eight final
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round study subjects, and then between the experimental and control groups of this final cohort. To maintain blind preview of the raw files and blind statistical analysis, the following naming convention was used to disguise the raw EEG data for consultation with the EEG technician/clinician and statistician: the experimental group is labeled “A”, and the control group is labeled “B”. The first EEG session is labeled “1” and the second EEG session is labeled “2”. The four experimental conditions were kept chronological: thus the eyes-closed baseline with practitioner not in room is “A”, eyes-closed baseline with practitioner in room is “B”, eyes-closed receiving intervention is “C”, and eyes-closed post-intervention residual effect is “D”. Although the EEG technician was aware of the four conditions, and could theoretically infer by the numerals and subsequent alphabetical order which session was being reviewed, he was unable to guess by the naming convention which group was which. Files may be reviewed as follows: A_1_A (experimental group, first EEG session, baseline); B_2_D (control group, second EEG session, postintervention residual effect). Cells contain a positive or negative numerical value demonstrating the shift in direction of the electrical charge, increasing or decreasing, within each brainwave, at each of the 19 electrode sites (Carney, Geyer and Greenfield, 2010, p. 24-37) using the MITSAR 10-20 system. Statistical probability is represented by p values underneath the positive or negative numeral. The color-coded depictions of
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electrical brain activity in the EEG tables demonstrate whether group mean electrical activity increased (toward yellow) or decreased (toward light blue) during the condition in each brainwave. Activity closest to the resting norm, showing no change, is black/brown, and the extreme of yellow or light blue is three standard deviations from the mean. Therefore, areas of red depict activation during the condition, and blue depict calming during the condition. The first two EEG outputs (Tables A2 and A3) represent the initial baseline of each group compared to the normative Human Brain Institute database. Table A4 depicts normalized power spectra, comparing the experimental group mean change to the normative database for mean age (43.75 yrs) of the overall group, as is standard practice in EEG statistical analysis (L. Sherlin, personal communication, February 22, 2012).
Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire This author performed an Internet search for test instruments, and assessed anxiety scales that contained physiologic/somatic components in their subtests. Due to her status as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (not yet a PhD or licensed psychologist), this author could access a limited number of validated anxiety scales for use in this study. She ruled out anxiety measures that focused on psychological (in lieu of somatic) symptoms. She then applied to PAR, Inc., to purchase the most appropriate scale that her level of professional licensure would allow. PAR, Inc.
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reviewed her license number and determined she was in good standing to utilize the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire, and afforded her permission to utilize up to 70 of the instruments for the purposes of this study. This author then contacted PAR, Inc. regarding translation of the instrument, as a Spanish version was not available. Further explication of the translation process is noted in Appendix E. Non-parametric analyses of the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire paper/pencil tests were run for Total Raw Score, Average Change, and Subscale Percentiles and T Scores. For all the MAQ figures, the ordinals along the X-axis represent the following points in time: baseline before the first intervention (0), measurement immediately after the fourth intervention (1), and delayed measurement one month after the fourth intervention (2). Tables B1-B5 and Figures B1-B5 summarize outcomes. In the development of the MAQ, “a target minimum reliability for the subscales was .80…. [T]he internal consistency reliability coefficient for the MAQ total scale was r alpha=.96 (for both sexes [in the referenced sample])….the internal consistency reliability coefficients were somewhat lower for the MAQ subscales, ranging from r alpha=.88 for the Worry-Fears subscale to r alpha=.91 for both the Physiologic-Panic and the Social Phobia subscales, with high internal consistency reliabilities demonstrated by the Negative Affectivity (r alpha=.90) subscale. Given the relatively low number of items (ranging from 9 to 12 items), the internal consistency reliability may be considered high” (Reynolds, 1999, p. 43).
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Body Intelligence Scale This author performed an Internet search for body awareness scales, and among the very few clinical options available at the time of this study’s Internal Review Board (i.e., many available scales are focused on body self-esteem, perceived health and beauty), determined the most appropriate scale for the purposes of this study was the Body Intelligence Scale (BIS). She ruled out the use of the Scale of Body Connection (SBC), as the SBC is intended to measure the effects of body-based, unresolved trauma on the subject (Price & Thompson, 2007). Future studies focused on a broader scope of trauma’s impact and its therapeutic resolution could use the SBC, which has been shown to have sufficient internal validity and reliability, and also measures indices relevant to this study’s scope. This author contacted the owner of the BIS scale, Rosemarie Anderson, at her website (http://wellknowingconsulting.org) to secure permission for its use. Permission for the English and Spanish versions was granted for free in exchange for entering results in the owner’s database for the purposes of continuing to gather data regarding reliability and validity. Anderson sent instructions for how to access her scales through her website and later enter the data for analysis. Anderson’s article describes Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale at .89. The subscales are as follows: Energy Body Awareness, .88; Inner Body Awareness, .77; Comfort Body Awareness, .82. Also, “five items were added to the BIS for validity
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purposes…the current BIS consists of 36 items in a 5-point Likert scale format and requires 10 min to complete. Scores for negative items were reversed. Therefore, high scores represent high body intelligence” (2006, p. 363). Appendix C, table and figure 1, depict overall trends seen between the experimental and control groups. For all the BIS figures (Appendix C), the ordinals along the X-axis represent the following points in time: baseline before the first intervention (0), measurement immediately after the fourth intervention (1), and delayed measurement one month after the fourth intervention (2).
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Results Hypothesis 1: Deeksha recipients will experience a significant decline in state anxiety relative to those in the control group. Both the Deeksha and placebo groups reported reduction of anxiety to within normal ranges as measured by the MAQ in this short-term experiment. Though the experimental group tested more deviant-high in anxiety than the placebo group at the start of the experiment, regression to the mean was achieved by both groups, without statistical significance at the p
